Menu

Reading Books and Playing Games All Day

Humble Monthly Retrospective 2016-2017: Worth it?

I have been a subscriber to the Humble Monthly bundles since November 2016, and I recently wondered how I was actually doing on game completion. In order to answer this question, I’m going to take the bundles from November 2016 through December 2017 (I plan on doing a separate article at the end of 2018 for this year’s bundles) and look at the following areas:

How many games per month do I actually finish on average? Do I play something from each bundle, or have certain months where I don’t touch a single game?

How much money in games have I finished, both per month, and overall? In order to break even, the games I have played from my bundles need to amount to twelve dollars per month and 168 dollars overall.

Are there games from this bundle that I still want to play in the future that may yet increase the value I get from the bundle, or have I already played everything I want to play in this bundle, making the remaining games dead weight?

I’m going to begin by giving a brief summary of each month’s bundle by listing out the games from that month, giving an idea of what I played, my impression of the finished games, what I still want to play, and how much money the games I finished in each bundle would cost normally. At the end, I will summarize my general impressions upon all fourteen months of bundles put together.

November 2016

Contents:

Stardew Valley

BROFORCE

Rebel Galaxy

Beyond Eyes

Kathy Rain

Styx: Master of Shadows

Pirate Pop Plus

This was the first month I subscribed to Humble Monthly because I really wanted to play Stardew Valley. Since I have played fifty hours in that game since purchasing it, I consider it to be a completed game and one I love dearly. I have also completed Beyond Eyes and enjoyed it, but I wasn’t blown away by it. Recently, I started playing Pirate Pop Plus in the evenings while watching Netflix, and while just a simple arcade game, it’s pretty fun and addicting. I have interest in eventually playing Kathy Rain, but it is unlikely I will finish any of the remaining titles.

Games played: 3

Finished title cost: $34.97

December 2016

Contents:

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

The Escapists – Base Game + DLCs

Mordheim City of the Damned

Hacknet

Western Press

The Flame in the Flood

Minion Masters

I’ve played two games of this grouping, and those are Western Press, a typing game that was fun, though forgettable, and Minion Masters, an online PVP deck-building title that I whip out periodically when I want to play a quick match. Of the remaining games, I would like to get to Hacknet and Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, but I have no interest in the others.

Games Played: 2

Finished title cost: $29.97

January 2017

Contents:

Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide

Project CARS

Mother Russia Bleeds

Neon Chrome

Jotun

HoPiKo

Kimmy

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

I have only played one game from this bundle, and that is actually the title that started off as the original title and got ported to Steam later, giving me a code. It was an okay adventure game, but I wasn’t a huge fan. I’d like to play The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide eventually, but I probably won’t play the others.

Games Played: 1

Finished Title Cost: $9.99

February 2017

Contents:

XCOM 2

Ryse: Son of Rome

ABZU

Steamworld Heist

Okhlos

Project Highrise

Husk

Yet another month where I only played one game, but it was a great one. ABZU is a perfect example of a title I ended up loving, but likely wouldn’t have played without the bundle prodding me into it. This is also a bundle with untapped potential, as I want to play XCOM 2, Ryse: Son of Rome, Steamworld Heist, and Project Highrise, so I could still get some more value out of this bundle in the future.

Games Played: 1

Finished Title Cost: $19.99

March 2017

Contents:

Total War: WARHAMMER

Poly Bridge

Space Run Galaxy

One Piece Pirate Warriors 3

RIVE: Wreck, Hack, Die, Retry

Flat Heroes

Morphblade

Uurnog Uurnlimited

Yikes, this one is a bit of a flop. I have no particular interest in any of these games, and I didn’t play any of them. Thankfully, I can usually find something I want to play in most bundles, but I guess this wasn’t a winner for me.

Games Played: 0

Finished Title Cost: $0

April 2017

Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition

Black Mesa

Kingdom: New Lands Royal Edition

Event[0]

Tumblestone

Slime-san

Another month where I played nothing, but at least in this bundle, I have interest in going back to Tumblestone and Event[0] eventually.

Games Played: 0

Finished Title Cost: $0

May 2017

Contents:

DiRT Rally

Inside

This is the Police

Undertale

Metrico+

The Turing Test

GoNNER – Press Jump to Die Edition

Super Rude Bear Resurrection

This month broke the streak and I actually played a game! Metrico+ was a solid platforming title, though I found the controls a little frustrating at times. I’d also like to get to Inside, This is the Police, Undertale, and The Turing Test, so there is potential to get more value out of this bundle in the future.

Games Played: 1

Finished Title Cost: $13.99

June 2017

Contents:

Stellaris

Plague Inc: Evolved

SUPERHOT

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Brigador: Up-Armored Edition

Shoppe Keep

Maize

Tiny Echo

I played one game from this month, but it was a good one. Plague Inc: Evolved is a personal favorite of mine, and I’ve put dozens of hours into a game I never would have bought for myself. Apart from that, I’d like to give SUPERHOT, Tiny Echo, and Maize a try in the future.

Games Played: 1

Finished Title Cost: $14.99

July 2017

Contents:

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

SimplePlanes

Galactic Civilizations III

Armello

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter

Kero Blaster

Hyper Light Drifter

Yet another bundle where I haven’t played anything. There is hope for this bundle, however, as I would like to get to Dark Souls II, Sherlock Holmes, and Hyper Light Drifter in the future.

Games Played: 0

Finished Title Cost: $0

August 2017

Contents:

Pillars of Eternity

NBA 2K17

ONE PIECE BURNING BLOOD

Offworld Trading Company

War for the Overworld

Overcooked

Wuppo

Nongünz

Once again, no finished titles here, but I do want to play Pillars of Eternity and Wuppo. While this doesn’t explain every bundle, I think Humble Monthly tends to focus a lot on management/4X games, and I don’t play a lot of those, which gives me a smaller pool of games to take interest in.

Games Played: 0

Finished Title Cost: $0

September 2017

Contents:

Killing Floor 2

Banner Saga 2

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

Worms W.M.D

Stories Untold

HackyZack

Eterium

After a several month break of only tepid interest in games from the bundles, I struck gold. Stories Untold is a phenomenal adventure game with some horror elements. I had never even heard of this game before the bundle came out, and I was hooked on it. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight and Banner Saga 2 (after I play the first one) both interest me, as well.

Games Played: 1

Finished Title Cost: $9.99

October 2017

Contents:

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Wargame: Red Dragon

Furi

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Seasons After Fall

The Shrouded Isle

Scanner Sombre

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy

I finished two games from this bundle, and I had mixed results. Orwell was a really great game that puts you in the shoes of “Big Brother” trying to infiltrate the lives of people and determine their threat to society, and it raised some complex moral conundrums that I’m still puzzling out today. Scanner Sombre, on the other hand, is a game that tries and fails to be scary, and had an art style that, while cool, actually made me kind of motion sick to play. I’ll be playing Seasons After Fall and Rise of the Tomb Raider still, with the latter being on my short list to play in the next month.

Games Played: 2

Finished Title Cost: $29.98

November 2017

Contents:

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

Quake Champions

Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Dead Rising 2

Silence

Emily is Away Too

World to the West

I’ve only played one from this group, but Emily is Away Too is a game that gives a heavy dose of nostalgia to anyone that grew up in the instant messaging era, and I deeply enjoyed it. I’d like to eventually play some Elder Scrolls Online, as well as give Dead Rising 2 and Silence a go.

Games Played: 1

Finished Title Cost: $4.99

December 2017

Contents:

H1Z1

Rivals of Aether

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend

Nex Machina

The Sexy Brutale

STRAFE: Millennium Edition

Passpartout: The Starving Artist

Another game with no played games, which is a rather disappointing end to this analysis. Still, The Sexy Brutale is a game I intend to get to soon.

Games Played: 0

Finished Title Cost: $0

In Summary

Overall, after adding up everything I’ve played, I have played $168.86 worth of content from these bundles, which just barely breaks even with what I spent. I have averaged playing 0.92 games per bundle, as I had several bundles where I played no games, as well as a few where I played more than one. Over time, I will certainly play more of these games, which will allow me to still gain more value from these bundles. In fact, I will likely continue to update this article once in a while with updated tallies in order to better track how many games I have played.

The main takeaway from looking at the games I bought isn’t necessarily how much monetary value I got, but instead how many games I played and otherwise wouldn’t have. It is safe to say that there are some gems in this that I never would have discovered independently, like Stories Untold and Orwell, that I adore and am so glad I got the chance to learn about. As long as I am not losing extensive amounts of money on my bundle purchases, I will continue to subscribe.

Are you a Humble Monthly purchaser? I’d love to know more about your purchasing and how many games you’ve played from your bundles!

Post navigation

Layers of Fear and Inside are great games and well worth a play. Plus they aren’t too much of a time commitment. And I’m sure you know my feelings on XCOM 2. Is also highly recommend Furi as a cracking (albeit very hard) boss rush game with a great soundtrack.

I have a similar thing with Xbox games with gold and PlayStation plus. I get all these games with them that I just never play. Still, it’s nice to have a backlog to dip into when I don’t have anything I want to play.